Summary: A six part series on making your church a better body

All my illustrations come from SermonCentral and scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.

EATING RIGHT - WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE ?

We are in the middle of building a better body! I introduced this series back in November, and we spoke about how, we, you and I, believers in Christ and those who have been buried with Him in baptism, are the body, the bride, the children of God. And we are on a mission to Build a Better Body. Last week we looked at the importance of Listening to our Trainer, Jesus tells us simply, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” The word IF tells us that we must DO, we must ACT, we must SHOW the love we have for Jesus in our actions and our words.

This morning we move to another important aspect of Building a Better Body, and that my friends is DIET. EATING RIGHT, deciding what is good for us, and what is NOT SO GOOD. For our physical bodies there are many different things we should eat that we do not and many, many things that we should NOT eat that we do. But I think the writer of Hebrews tells us that there is only two kinds of food that Christians eat, one is good and the other is NOT so good. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Hebrews 5:12-14. We want to look at a small passage of scripture and decide if we fall into one of these categories. Read along with me this morning.

The writer is telling his readers that they should be stronger, if you would indulge me he is saying they should be a Better Body, listen to his words:

Heb 5:12-14 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

This morning let us look at the two groups of Christians mentioned here

I. THOSE ON MILK

II. THOSE ON SOLID FOOD

Those on milk are labeled as infants, they need to be taught the elementary truths about God’s word. WHY?

George Barna wrote The State of the Church in 2002. Barna conducted a survey of self-pronounced Christians and here’s what he found about their knowledge of the Bible. Now, remember these are Christians.. • 48% could not name the four Gospels. • 52% cannot identify more than two or three of Jesus’ disciples. • 60% of American Christians can’t name even five of the 10 Commandments. • When asking graduating high school “born again Christians” over 50% of them thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. • 61% of American Christians think the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. • 71% of American Christians think “God helps those who help themselves” is a Bible verse. No wonder George Barna said, “Americans revere the Bible but, by and large they don’t know what it says. And because they don’t know it, they have become a nation of Biblical illiterates.”

The writer of Hebrews tells us this, He says these infants are not acquainted with the teachings of righteousness. He says that even though enough time has passed that they should be teachers themselves, that they need someone to teach them because they have not grown and do not even know the elementary truths of God’s Word.

What is their DIET? What are these people taking in? Many of us are subjected to the teaching of the world, and those of you that have been looking at the “Truth Project” can plainly see that the world has a completely different outlook of the truth then God’s word does. Truth is NOT relative, the truth is the truth and God’s word is the TRUTH. Many people claim to know what God says in His Word, but the truth is that they have never really taken the time to study and understand it.

A pastor entered a class as the lesson was in progress and asked, "Who broke down the walls of Jericho?" A lad answered, "Not me, sir." The pastor turned to the teacher and asked, "Is this the usual behavior in this class?" The teacher replied, "I believe this boy is an honest boy, and I really don’t think he did it." Leaving the room, the pastor sought out a deacon and explained what had happened. The deacon said, "I have known both the boy and the teacher for several years, and neither of them would do such a thing." By this time the pastor was heartsick and reported the incident to the Christian Education Committee. They said, "We see no point in making an issue out of this thing. Let’s pay the bill for the damage to the walls and charge it to upkeep. Anyway, our insurance may even cover it. "